


Leftover Candy Canes

by ErikaWilliams



Category: Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Genre: Valentine's Day, repost from livejournal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 02:34:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17112791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErikaWilliams/pseuds/ErikaWilliams
Summary: “No one ever needs this many candy canes,” she tried to explain in an exasperated tone as she ineffectually shoved a few of the boxes back into the closet. “Just make sure these are out of here before I get home tonight.” It was as good of a time as any to start getting ready and she gingerly made her way out of the pile of boxes.“Don’t worry about Nani,” Lilo said once her sister was gone from the hallway. Stitch picked up one of the boxes of candy canes and dropped the entire thing into his mouth. “She’s just nervous because she has a Valentine’s Day date with David.”





	Leftover Candy Canes

Since David had asked so nicely she take the day off work so their Valentine’s Day date could be completed without any major glitches from that department, Nani was left at the house with very little to do except think. She would have cleaned up, but lately Pleakley had been keeping the house obsessively clean. She didn’t know where any of the others were at the moment, but if the whirring noises were any indication, Jumba was busy working on something in their room. As for Lilo and Stitch, she thought they were somewhere in the house, but if they were, they were being quiet, far too quiet for her not to worry about what they might possibly be up to. She would be worried about it, but the silence implied that they had not caused mass destruction yet, and she had more pressing concerns on her mind. Like the fact that she had a Valentine’s day date with David. On Valentine’s Day. Which meant things were getting serious. She groaned and slumped her head down on the table. Things couldn’t be getting serious; she had to work and take care of Lilo and make sure those aliens squatting in her house didn’t destroy it again.

She was sure the floor could always use another sweep, because no matter how often you cleaned it someone always brought more dirt in, and with a goal in mind, she made her way to the supply closet to get the broom. As she opened the door, a bunch of boxes fell out, some hitting her and the others tumbling to the floor.

“Pleakley!” she yelled, knowing full well that he was the only other one to go into the supply closet. She picked up the first box and discovered it was a box of candy canes. They were all candy canes. The entire supply closet had been filled to the brim with candy canes and it was February. “Pleakley!” she called again, this time much louder and the alien actually showed up with Lilo and Stitch following closely behind.

“Why are you yelling?” Lilo asked. “Is it another alien?”

“Pleakley, why do we have so many boxes of candy canes?” she asked, indicating the boxes at her feet while a few more slithered out of the closet.

“They were a good deal,” Pleakley meekly protested, inching very slowly back towards his room.

“Good deal?” That would imply that they had been on sale when he had decided to buy all of them. “You bought all these candy canes after Christmas was over?”

“Yeah, so?”

“No one ever needs this many candy canes,” she tried to explain in an exasperated tone as she ineffectually shoved a few of the boxes back into the closet. “Just make sure these are out of here before I get home tonight.” It was as good of a time as any to start getting ready and she gingerly made her way out of the pile of boxes.

“Don’t worry about Nani,” Lilo said once her sister was gone from the hallway. Stitch picked up one of the boxes of candy canes and dropped the entire thing into his mouth. “She’s just nervous because she has a Valentine’s Day date with David.”

Instead of getting rid of the candy canes, Pleakley started stacking the boxes back up in the closet. “Valentine’s Day? Which one is that?” Pleakley asked as Stitch devoured another one of the boxes. “Is that the one with the little green man and the pot of gold?”

“Nope,” Lilo said, taking a box of the candy canes before Stitch could eat it and placed it on top of the other ones still stacked in the closet. “It’s the one where you give people flowers and chocolate.” She noticed that some of the candy canes were different flavors, although Stitch seemed to be developing a tendency for the traditional peppermint variety. “Pleakley, why do we have so many candy canes?” Even with all the eccentricities of the household, this seemed strange, even for them.

“Oh, right,” Pleakley said as he placed the last of the boxes in the closet. “Valentine’s day is the one where insecure earthlings go to extreme measures for glimmers of evidence that someone loves them.”

“Something like that,” Lilo conceded as Stitch sniffed along the floor in search of crumbs that may have broken free from the packaging. She also noticed that Pleakley had managed to avoid the issue of the candy canes.

“Is that today?” Pleakley asked, shutting the closet door. “I had no idea.”

“Just remember that you and Uncle Jumba have to babysit me tonight!” she called to his retreating form as he disappeared back into his room.

It was several hours later when, red ribbon in hand, Pleakley snuck down to the supply closet to pull a box of candy canes out. He inspected it through the plastic, making sure none of them were visibly broken from their little tumble earlier. It was absolutely perfect, but he wasn’t going to let the others know. After all, his studies had shown that Valentine’s Day gifts were the work of true desperation.

“Pleakley!” Nani called from the front doorway, and stashing the box of candy canes and ribbon in a nearby drawer, he scrambled to the door. She was wearing a dress that she had kept hidden from him and quite frankly it was the wrong color on her, but telling her that now would only delay her departure. “I’m leaving now, and I need to know that I can rely on you to keep an eye on the other three.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said over-enthusiastically seeing as how Nani’s date fit in perfectly with his plans. “I promise that Lilo and the little monster will remain under my careful watch.” Until such a time that he could whisk them safely off to bed with the help of an all natural sleeping aid drink he had discovered.

“And Jumba too,” Nani added, brushing her hair back over her shoulder. “I think he’s been working on something again, and I want the house remaining in one piece for more than two months this time.”

“Of course. Everything will be just the same when you come home from your date tonight,” he promised as he had discovered certain methods of keep the other three sufficiently occupied for a few hours at a time. “I’ll even have the little ones in bed by the time you get home.”

“Don’t try any miracles,” Nani mumbled.

“Don’t worry about a thing,” he said, gently ushering her through the door and onto the front porch. “You just enjoy David’s final desperate attempts to get you to love him.”

“What?” she tried to ask, but Pleakley had already shut the door. He had a plan, and quite frankly, his plan was none of Nani’s business, even if it did involve his babysitting methods of her younger sister. Besides, it was all natural, so it couldn’t possibly be hazardous to her health.

“Who wants to watch Mummies VS. Vampires in The Jurassic Age Part II?” he called, and sure enough, Lilo and Stitch arrived long before he could figure out where they were coming from. Before they were allowed to watch the movie, they had to eat their dinner and he made sure to give them their special drink, telling them that it would give them werewolf hunting abilities. Jumba tried to pour himself a cup as well, but Pleakley snatched the teakettle away from him, and informed him that it was intended for little girls and little monsters only. Not that he expected Jumba to listen to him, but maybe if he only had one cup, it wouldn’t affect him the same way it would the other two.

After dinner was finished, he ushered the other three into the living room for the movie. Lilo and Stitch sat in front of the tv while he joined Jumba on the sofa. He was unsure if these movies had any plot and suspected they were slowly killing the human population through brain degradation, but the other three seemed to enjoy them, and it was a good way to keep them occupied for at least an hour and a half.

About halfway through the movie, he excused himself and went back to the hallway where he had hidden the box of candy canes. He carefully wrapped the red ribbon around the box as he understood that was the earth custom on these holidays, then stashed it back into the drawer before going back to the others.

“Whose winning?” he asked as he flopped on the far end of the sofa from Jumba.

“The dinosaurs,” Lilo said in a monotone as a Utahraptor bit into a strange bandage trailing from a mummy.

Fascinating. He picked up a magazine up from the end table, one of Nani’s subscriptions, and started leafing through it. It was appropriately Valentine’s Day themed with ideas for gifts, where to go on dates, what type of makeup would accentuate the mood best, and what to do after the date upon bringing the man home. Humans had strange notions about things, and the more he read, the more flustered he became. He had just reached number seven in “25 Tricks Sure To Please Your Man” when he dropped the magazine on the floor.

“Oh no! Not happening! That is entirely unacceptable!” he blurted out before he realized his embarrassing mistake, and he looked at the other three, expecting them to be staring at him.

“I agree,” Lilo said, gaze still riveted on the screen. “There is no way a T-Rex can kill a vampire by stepping on it.” Jumba didn’t seem to have noticed he said anything at all, and Stitch was snoring softly on the floor? But Lilo was still wide awake.

As the ending credits started to roll, Lilo stood up and stretched. “I still think there is no way dinosaurs could stop mummies and vampires, but it was okay. Much better than Part I.” Pleakley hadn’t watched part one. “What do you think, Stitch?” she said, turning to her pet who did not respond. “Stitch?” she repeated, prodding him gently with her foot. He snored quite loudly and rolled over onto his back.

“The little monster must have fallen asleep,” Pleakley said nervously, wondering why Lilo did not seem in the least bit sleepy. What if his all-natural sleeping aid had somehow interfered with his bio-genetic programming? Even worse, what if Jumba found out it was his fault?

“Ah, little white earth flower found in delightful hot drink makes him to be falling asleep.”

“So that tea Pleakley made for us is like a knockout pill for Stitch?” Lilo asked innocently and Pleakley worried that she might suspect he had given it to Stitch on purpose.

“Something like that, yes.”

“Jumba, why don’t you carry Stitch upstairs for Lilo,” he said before she had much time to think about it.

“Okay. I guess I can go to bed early just this once since Stitch is so tired,” she conceded. The sofa creaked as Jumba vacated it and scooped Stitch up in one arm. Once they were on the lift, Pleakley went to the hiding spot and moved the candy canes with him to the living room. He picked up another periodical, one that did not belong to Nani and pretended to read it intently until Jumba returned. Hopefully, Lilo would remain upstairs for the evening, and he heard no sounds from them as Jumba sat back down on his side of the sofa. He put the magazine down on the table and tried to slide casually closer with box in hand.

“I found something for you,” he said, trying to casually pass the box over because it was in no way supposed to be a Valentine’s Day present because that was the sign of the desperate and he was anything but desperate. He just thought simple gifts could be given any time of the year, and Nani had told him to get rid of the candy canes. But it was not a Valentine’s Day present. Not really, despite what the red ribbon suggested.

“Ah, delightful hard earth candy shaped like small weapon,” Jumba said as he gladly took the box off of him. “But bigger girl said sold only during earth holiday with tree and lights.”

“I have my connections,” Pleakley said as Jumba unwrapped one of the candy canes and tossed the entire thing into his mouth. “Besides, you liked them so much I thought it was such a shame they only sell once a year.” He would have to move the rest of them to a new location later, and then he was going to have to have a stern talk with Nani about her choice in reading materials. Not only should she not be reading those sorts of things, but what if Lilo got ahold of it? But for the moment Jumba was enjoying his treat and Pleakley leaned back to finish reading his magazine.

When Nani returned from her date with David, she was pleased to find not only was the house still standing, but there were no screams of terror coming from within.

“Thanks for seeing me home,” she told David as he walked her up the front steps, still holding onto her hand.

“What kind of date would I be if I let you walk home alone and get abducted by aliens along the way?” he joked as they stopped outside the front door.

“I already live with three, I don’t think that would be a problem.” And there was one of the nice things about David, he actually knew the truth about her recently acquired housemates.

“Speaking of, how are Uncle Jumba and Auntie Pleakley?”

“Weirder and weirder every day. I used to think Jumba was the one to worry about, but Pleakley seems to have this thing for candy canes,” she told him, shuddering at the memory of the boxes falling out of the closet at her.

“Oh? Do you think he’ll let me have one?”

“David.” She playfully punched him on the arm, and then figuring ‘Why not?’ gave him a quick kiss before pushing open the door. “Goodnight.” She made her way swiftly inside; she still needed time to think about this relationship issue.

The only light in the living room was the faint glow of the tv. Pleakley was asleep at one end of the sofa, head back and an open magazine draped across his face. Jumba was snoring at the other end, an almost empty box of candy canes half-falling off his lap and suddenly things clicked into place. The never-ending supply of candy canes hidden in the supply closet where Jumba was sure to never go since he seemed to have an intense aversion to cleaning.

“Huh, and he said David was desperate.” She moved across the living room. She would just let them sleep there for the night, but in the morning she was going to have to talk to Pleakley about his magazine subscriptions. For one thing, some of the content was way too mature for Lilo to be reading, but more importantly, she was fairly certain a good number of those tips would not work for intergalactic species.


End file.
